Land Settlement Research Articles

Taking the Land to Make the City: A Bicoastal History of North America by Mary P. Ryan

Reviewed by: Taking the Land to Make the City: A Bicoastal History of North America by Mary P. Ryan Steven L. Driever Taking the Land to Make the City: A Bicoastal History of North America. Mary P. Ryan. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019. Pp. 438, photographs, maps, footnotes, index. $40.00, hardcover, ISBN 978-1-4773-1783-9. $40.00, eBook, ISBN 978-1-4773-1785-3. Mary P. Ryan expounds on the history of Baltimore and San Francisco through a chronological comparison beginning with the first human occupancy of their sites and surrounding areas and continuing through the 1860s. Ryan has succeeded in breaking new ground in the history of North America by focusing on local sovereignty as the key actor in local, regional, and national affairs. For many centuries before European colonization, fertile ecological zones in and around the Chesapeake and San Francisco Bays supported dense settlements of Native Americans. Ryan thus begins by describing [End Page 129] the natural forces that formed the estuaries and how the Ohlone people east of San Francisco Bay and the Algonquian-speaking tribes beside the Chesapeake exploited their bountiful environments. The Ohlone sustained hundreds of small, autonomous tribelets through hunting and gathering. The Algonquian tribes practiced horticulture and created a complex society, having a hierarchy of settlements that experienced intertribal conflict over territory. Neither people, however, built cities like the great Amerindian cities of Peru or Mexico or intensely exploited the sites of modern Baltimore and San Francisco. The taking of Native lands begins with the English arriving on the East Coast. Ryan makes clear that it was not official colonial policy but rather the arrival of Englishmen intent on enclosing land into farms and plantations that initially disrupted Indian territory. Soon, however, the taking was officially sanctioned on the grounds that the indigenous peoples were not "Christian People" and had not established permanent settlements and farms. Ryan attributes the seed for colonial Baltimore to Presbyterian Pennsylvania merchants who wanted to construct a port at the mouth of the Patapsco River to facilitate trade with the Caribbean and across the Atlantic. A town would be necessary to house the port's workforce, and, starting in 1745, Baltimore would grow along streets with adjacent land being divided into tidy lots that could be bought and sold repeatedly. Large landowners prospered while small leaseholders lived in small row houses, and most residents were propertyless. Receiving little help from Maryland's state legislature, Baltimore formed its own institutions to meet its most pressing needs. According to Ryan, the Spaniards, noted for their urban planning, merely cleared the land of Ohlone settlements and established a mission and presidio on the San Francisco Peninsula. The mission failed due to measles epidemics, venereal disease, and brutal punishments of recalcitrant Indians. The presidio was abandoned on Mexico's independence in 1821. The environment was permanently altered by invading plant and animal species introduced as the Mexican settlers began to convert the land to support the production of hides and tallow for export from ranchos. The second part of Ryan's book zooms down to the scale of streets and houses. We learn that Baltimore Town officially became the City of Baltimore in 1796 and witnessed local elites gradually transforming "mob town" into "monumental city," a civic-spirited community that [End Page 130] attracted enough immigrants to make Baltimore the third largest US city by the 1830s. Ryan argues that it was the process of street making that taught the Baltimoreans how to collaborate, leading to other city improvements such as building elaborate monuments, providing street lighting, extending wharves into the bay, and so on. Ryan avers that the benefits of active citizenship, unfortunately, were not extended to African Americans despite almost all of them in Baltimore being free. In Alta California local authority overrode Mexico's central authority. The secularization of the mission lands benefited leading Californios, while the displaced Indians became a servile labor force on their ranchos. The site of present-day San Francisco began development in the 1830s as an "anchorage" in the small Port of Yerba Buena on the northeastern corner of the peninsula and as the pueblo of Dolores to the south...

Kurpiowszczyzna Przekształcenia krajobrazu osadniczego do czasu przystąpienia Polski do Unii Europejskiej

The Kurpie region is among the most interesting ethnographic regions of Poland, with the center of the original, well-preserved and carefully cultivated folk culture of the Kurpie [ethnographic group of the Polish population]. The image of the Kurpie village resulted from centuries of human activity. Over the centuries, transformations of the landscape occurred. Activities that gave the area a modern appearance were based on adaptation of the natural environment for cultivation of land and gradual establishment of human settlements. The traditional folk culture developed by the Kurpie ethnographic group, as well as high value of the natural environment prompted research in the scope of transformation to open settlement landscape of the Kurpie region. The present study was aimed at investigating processes that determined the transformation to the natural and cultural landscape of the Kurpie region. The territorial scope of the present work covers the Kurpie region located between the Omulew and the Szkwa rivers. In the 15th century, the region was included in the Ostrołęka County and has remained there since then. The time scope of the study concerns the period from when first mention of the area being settled was made to the moment of Poland's accession to the European Union. The following research methods were adopted for the study: analysis of source literature and literature on the subject undertaken in the present work, historical analysis to cover the development of settlement in the studied area, comparative cartographic analysis in the field of settlement and landscape transformation, statistical analysis in the field of social and technical infrastructure. In the study, landscape and urban-rural inventory was also applied. The study structure covers issues related to formation and development of settlement in the Kurpie region: 1) the Kurpie region in scientific research, 2) the Kurpie region in folk culture, 3) the Kurpie region – an outline of settlement-agricultural functions, as well as landscape layout, 4) the Kurpie region – characteristics of the settlement landscape, 5) the Kurpie region – dominant changes to the landscape under the influence of socio-economic factors in the period of the 45 post-war years, 6) the Kurpie region – dominant modification to the landscape as influenced by socio-economic factors during the political system transformation in Poland.

Impacts of agrarian reform on land use in the biomes of the Midwest region of Brazil between 2004 and 2014.

Brazil's Midwest is composed of four biomes: the Cerrado, predominant in the region; the Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world; the Amazon, which occupies part of Mato Grosso; and the Atlantic Forest. The objective of this study was to identify the evolution of occupation and use of land in the rural settlements of the Brazilian Midwest depending on the biome of location. A total of 54 settlements distributed in the four biomes of the region were analyzed using direct observation and Landsat images from the years 2004 and 2014. Using the software QGIS 2.8 Wien, the vegetation indices NDVI and NDWI were used to classify agricultural, pasture and forest areas by biome. Native vegetation is declining in most of the analyzed settlements and pastures, for milk production, occupied the largest area. Between 2004 and 2014, pasture areas expanded to the detriment of forests. Although they have the highest percentage of environmental preservation areas, the settlements we analyzed in the Amazon biome do not comply with legislation. Part of the forest in these settlements was transformed into areas of bushy cerrado. However, there was an increase in forests in the settlements of the Atlantic Forest biome.

ПЕРЕДУМОВИ ВИНИКНЕННЯ КОЗАЧЧИНИ ТА ЇЇ РЕФЛЕКСІЯ В НАРОДНІЙ ПРОЗІ

The article considers the particular influence of dynamic and integrity of the historical process in the Cossack's prose tradition. It inherited not only the semantic and formal stereotypes of the squad epic, but also peculiar outlook and original metaphysics that outlined the position of human beings in the world, and the philosophical morality of the ancient period, adapted to the specific reality of the Cossack era. The natural connections of Cossack's prose with public life, ethnic traditions, and material culture determined the necessity to study as an important source for ascertainment the processes of existence and development of the Cossack epic system. It was also analyzed what historical circumstances brought the appearance in prose of homesickness, longing for family, native land, as well as tragic rupture of family ties into the prose of a permanent motive. The Cossacks in Ukraine appeared together with the colonization of the marginal lands, which were a part of the Lithuanian-Polish state. It has been found that the structure of many prose samples naturally includes toponymic motives based on folk etymology, which give the works a notable "historical" authenticity. It was found that in the period of formation, the Cossacks were not a military organization, it was a kind of household phenomenon or craft. In this sense, the Cossacks have been known since ancient times, but the term appeared in the late 15th century and they were transformed into a social stratum during the 12th century. According to our analysis, the main premise for the prose tradition of the Cossacks background were historical factors that have created the great national movement within the current Cherkasy region that involved the bulk of the population of the Middle Dnieper in the 16th century. Different conditions of the historical being of the eastern and western regions influenced the centers of epic creativity, coinciding with the ethno-destriction of Ukraine.

Remote Sensing Big Data Analysis of the Lower Yellow River Ecological Environment Based on Internet of Things

This paper collects data on the ecological environment of the lower Yellow River through an IoT approach and provides an in‐depth analysis of the ecological remote sensing big data. An impervious fusion of multisource remote sensing data cooperation and multimachine learning algorithm cooperation is proposed. The water surface extraction method has improved the extraction accuracy of the construction land and rural settlements in the Yellow River Delta. The data system, big data management platform, and application scenarios of the environmental data resource center are designed specifically, respectively. Based on the spherical mesh information structure to sort out environmental data, an environmental data system containing data characteristics such as information source, timeliness, and presentation is formed. According to the characteristics of various types of environmental data, the corresponding data access, storage, and analysis support system is designed to form the big data management platform. Strengthen the construction of ecological interception projects for farmland receding water. Speed up the construction of sewage treatment facilities. Carry out waste and sewage pipeline network investigation, speed up the construction of urban sewage collection pipeline network, and improve the waste and sewage collection rate and treatment rate. The management platform adopts the Hadoop framework, which is conducive to the storage of massive data and the utilization of unstructured data. Combined with the relevant national policy requirements and the current environmental protection work status, the application scenarios of environmental big data in environmental decision‐making, supervision, and public services are sorted out to form a complete data resource center framework. Gray correlation analysis is used to identify the key influencing factors of different types of cities to elaborate the contents of the construction of water ecological civilization in different types of cities and to build a framework of ideas for the construction of urban water ecological civilization to improve the health of urban water ecological civilization. To realize the sustainable development of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, blind logging and reclamation should be avoided in the process of land development, and more efforts should be made to protect tamarisk scrub and reed scrub, which are vegetation communities with positive effects on the regional ecological environment. In urban planning, the proportion of green area and water area within the city should be reasonably increased, so that the city can develop towards a livable city that is more conducive to human‐land harmony and sustainability.

About disappearance of a large Lake Ebi-Nur, Xinjiang, China

This research considers the process of degradation of the large, bitter-salty Lake Ebi-Nur, located in the Xinjiang (Northwest China), on the border with Kazakhstan. Satellite monitoring using LANDSAT-8 and SENTINEL-2 in recent years has shown the continuation of the process of rapid shallowing of this water body. The area of the lake water mirror decreased from 900 km2 in 2018 to 210 km2 in 2021. The reasons for the degradation of Lake Ebi-Nur are the withdrawal of a significant amount of river’s runoff for arable land irrigation, against the background of three (2019-2021) strongly low-water years. The stability of the water mirror area of Lake Ebi-Nur and the cultivation of over 600 thousand hectares of irrigated arable land in its basin is possible only with the alternation of low-water and high-water years. Three sharply low-water years in a row have brought the lake to a critical state. The continuation of low water in 2022, most likely, will transfer this lake to the state of a salt marsh. The degradation of Lake Ebi-Nur carries significant environmental risks. This lake is located in a natural area of very strong winds (Dzungarian Gate). The drained parts of lake’s bottom become sources of salt storms in direction to agricultural lands and large settlements, including the capital of Xinjiang, city Urumqi. A definite solution to the problem may be the transfer of additional water resources to the Lake Eb-Nur basin from the neighboring water-surplus valleys of the Ili River or the Kara-Ertis River. However, these rivers are transboundary (China-Kazakhstan) and additional returnable seizures of their water resources to the Lake Ebi-Nur will be hard perceived in Kazakhstan.

Forest Cover Dynamics Detection in Lume District, Oromia Region, Central Ethiopia

Forest cover dynamics is a critical global problem that affects the socio-economic and ecological function of forest landscape in the globe The Earth's forest cover is continuously altered by several climatological and anthropogenic factors. And its change influence world carbon cycle and biodiversity pool at local, regional and global scale. Lume district in Ethiopia is one of potential area that has important socio-economic and ecological function. Currently, despite their contribution to both economic and ecological services forests of Lume district are under serious streak both from anthropogenic and natural calamities. Hence, the fundamental aim of this study is to investigate the magnitude, trend and rate of forest cover change for the last 33 years (1985-2018). Quantitative data was collected using Landsat5 TM and Landsat8 OLI_TIRS satellite image, which used to define the spatial and temporal changes. SCP, QGIS 2.18.2, MOLUSCE and EXCEL were used for processing and analyzing data obtained from satellite image (https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/). Four period Landsat image data of 1985, 1999, 2013 and 2018 were used to produce land cover map in general and forest cover map in particular. The finding of the study depicted that, during 33 years period agriculture land and urban building increased by 728ha (10.82%), 1547.92ha (21.39%) respectively with equivalent decline of 3887ha (5.37%) forestland and 17502.55ha (24.2%) shrub land. Throughout the study periods, steady net increasing rate of expansions observed for urban buildings and agriculture land by 468.8ha and 237.27ha/annual, whereas, a net decline rate noted for scrublands and forests by 530.38ha and 117.8ha/year. The main findings of this study disclosed that, a resume increase in agriculture land and urban buildings and settlements at the expense of forests and shrub lands throughout investigated periods. Hence, in order to revoke the problem of forest cover change and its impact, proper measures had been forwarded which can be implemented both in the long and short-term commitment of anxious stakeholders in the district and national level.

Regional Soil Nutrient Balances for Cropland in 1920s Catalonia, Spain

AbstractUnderstanding the replacement of soil nutrients removed by harvests makes it possible to understand the influence of humans on long-term soil fertility. This article calculates nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium balances for cropland in 1920 for three agroecoregions distinguished by particular historical settlement patterns, land use, geography, and climatic characteristics in Catalonia, Spain. The analysis assesses and compares the regional potential for farmers to have returned the nutrients extracted from croplands at a time of transition, when only a few synthetic fertilizers were yet available. From sustainability science, the article borrows a methodology to reconstruct soil nutrient balances in historical agroecosystems from available regional historical sources. The soil balances indicate that nutrient extractions were balanced with the additions in Catalonia’s wetter Pyrenees and eastern regions, but were in deficit in the arid western regions, where less livestock manure was available. In Barcelona province, farmers made considerable use of synthetic fertilizers already in 1920. Such fertilizers were mainly intended to supplement phosphorus in the eastern region, suggesting that they played an important role there too, where there was not enough manure.

ПРЕДЛОЖЕНИЯ ПО ОХРАНЕ ЗЕМЕЛЬ ОТ НЕГАТИВНОГО ВОЗДЕЙСТВИЯ ТЕХНОГЕННЫХ МИНЕРАЛЬНЫХ ОБРАЗОВАНИЙ

The article considers the processes affecting the cadastral value of land plots, as a result of which occurs land contamination around technogenic mineral formations. The scale of the problem is shown on the example of the Tula region, where large volumes of waste rocks in the form of waste heaps remained on the surface as a legacy from the development of the Moscow Region coal basin. The article gives an assessment of the ways to reduce this pollution, reduce environmental risks, eliminates accumulated harm from the point of view of their environmental efficiency and economic feasibility, which will further increase the cadastral value of land plots located in the zone of influence of technogenic mineral formations. The article proposes a method for the conservation and isolation of man-made mineral formations, which ensures a more effective reduction of the negative impact on the surrounding lands, including the lands of settlements and agricultural lands

Problems of land management and cadastral registration of land settlements

Problems of land management and cadastral registration of land settlements

The Political Price of Authoritarian Control: Evidence from Francoist Land Settlements in Spain

The Political Price of Authoritarian Control: Evidence from Francoist Land Settlements in Spain

Study of economic impact of british colonial rule

The British ruler's new land system also had a significant effect on the Indian economy. During the reign of the East India Company, the corporate administrations levied excessive rates on land revenues and thus achieved higher land returns. The British Government subsequently implemented the land settlement in 1793. In Bengal and other neighbouring regions, permanent settlement was established and eventually spread to other states. This settlement led to the establishment of zamindar systems, in which the zamindar collection and transfer of land income to the British authorities was carried out.

Международно-правовое положение Внутренней Монголии на рубеже XIX–XX вв. глазами ее правителя (записка хорчинского князя Удая, 1910 г.)

Introduction. The article publishes and provides a historical legal analysis of one letter by Prince Uday, ruler of Khorchin Khoshun (Horqin Banner) in Inner Mongolia at the end of 19th – first quarter of 20th century, who sent it to Pyotr Stolypin, the Prime-Minister of the Russian Empire, in 1910. This letter is a part of a file kept in the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg, Russia) in original Mongolian as well as in its Russian translation. As is known, the document was not published before. Goals. The aim of research is to extract from the Uday’s note — the information on the international legal status of Inner Mongolia which is given from the local ruler’s point of view. Results. The results of the research confirm the value of the note as a source, although its author attempted to emphasize his own significance in the eyes of the Russian authorities. Coupled with materials of other contemporaries (Russian and Western diplomats, intelligence officers, missionaries, merchants and scientists) it allows to give an authentic view on the status of Inner Mongolia at the international scene at the edge of 19th – 20th centuries. The utmost interest should be paid to the dynamics of relations of rulers of Inner Mongolia with the Qing imperial authorities that initiated a forced colonization of Mongolian lands through resettlement of Chinese peasant colonists, changes in relations of Manchu administration and Mongol feudal lords with Russian regional authorities and merchants, as well as strengthening of the Japanese influence in the region.

The Overlapping Land Settlement

The role of Agrarian and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency is very much needed in society to fulfill the need for land services in this part of Indonesia. Considering the importance of a land certificate as a perfect and valid evidence for ownership of land rights, it is necessary to deal with land disputes with a view to ensuring legal certainty of land rights against the right holder or owner. This study is to determine the overlapping resolution in the Office of Agrarian and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency of Surakarta City over land use rights (HP) in Purwodiningratan Surakarta number 36 on behalf of the Surakarta City Government domiciled in Surakarta covering an area of approximately ± 9,350 m2, with Use Rights ( HP) number 23 on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia domiciled in Jakarta (PT. Kereta Api Indonesia) covering an area of approximately ± 33,225 m2. This research is a descriptive empirical (sociological) juridical research with research data sources derived from primary data and secondary data. the data used includes; interviews, field observations and literature study in the form of books, laws and regulations, documents etc. hThe research results that have been collected are then analyzed qualitatively. This study aims: 1) To determine to analyze overlapping land settlement. 2) To find out the obstacles and solutions in overlapping land settlement. 3) To analyze to find legal certainty due to overlapping. Many obstacles to overlapping land settlement in the settlement of Hak Pakai land, especially those belonging to government agencies, are constrained by the bureaucracy of rights holders. The efforts and solutions for the settlement of overlapping land mediation by the Land Office of Surakarta City, in this case, are very dependent on the holders of Land Rights in the settlement of the Land Office as a mediator in the settlement in accordance with statutory regulations.

The Overlapping Land Settlement

The role of Agrarian and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency is very much needed in society to fulfill the need for land services in this part of Indonesia. Considering the importance of a land certificate as a perfect and valid evidence for ownership of land rights, it is necessary to deal with land disputes with a view to ensuring legal certainty of land rights against the right holder or owner. This study is to determine the overlapping resolution in the Office of Agrarian and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency of Surakarta City over land use rights (HP) in Purwodiningratan Surakarta number 36 on behalf of the Surakarta City Government domiciled in Surakarta covering an area of approximately ± 9,350 m2, with Use Rights ( HP) number 23 on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia domiciled in Jakarta (PT. Kereta Api Indonesia) covering an area of approximately ± 33,225 m2. This research is a descriptive empirical (sociological) juridical research with research data sources derived from primary data and secondary data. the data used includes; interviews, field observations and literature study in the form of books, laws and regulations, documents etc. hThe research results that have been collected are then analyzed qualitatively. This study aims: 1) To determine to analyze overlapping land settlement. 2) To find out the obstacles and solutions in overlapping land settlement. 3) To analyze to find legal certainty due to overlapping. Many obstacles to overlapping land settlement in the settlement of Hak Pakai land, especially those belonging to government agencies, are constrained by the bureaucracy of rights holders. The efforts and solutions for the settlement of overlapping land mediation by the Land Office of Surakarta City, in this case, are very dependent on the holders of Land Rights in the settlement of the Land Office as a mediator in the settlement in accordance with statutory regulations.

ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ ПАСТБИЩНЫХ УГОДИЙ ПРИ СОДЕРЖАНИИ СКОТА В ЛИЧНЫХ ПОДСОБНЫХ ХОЗЯЙСТВАХ

The authors of the article consider the institutional framework for regulating the use of rangelands in rural areas for the effective maintenance of livestock on household farms. On the basis of a detailed analysis, the issues of pastures allocated for livestock grazing to personal subsidiary farms have been identified. An assessment of the pasture lands of rural settlements and standards of the maximum permissible load of grazing of agricultural animals on the area of pasture turnover for the natural-agricultural zones of the republic and types of livestock are presented. The regions with a shortage of pasture lands and high concentration of the rural population, located in the foothill-desert-steppe, foothill-desert and mountain zones, incompliance of livestock kept in households and the level of pasture provision are identified. Areas with a low load of livestock on pasture land are identified. In the desert and semi-desert zones, there is an insufficient number of livestock for effective near-village pasture rotation. The ratio of the standards of need and provision in pasture fodder in different natural and agricultural zones by species composition of livestock is shown. The degree of use of pasture lands in various forms of economy of the republic is indicated, pastures assigned to peasant (private) farms are used with full load. Non-state agricultural enterprises within the boundaries of land use have a reserve potential of unused pastures with an area of 10.4 mln ha. A formula for determining the productivity and capacity of pasture lands for organizing cattle grazing is presented. Recommendations and schemes of pasture rotation are presented to preserve the productivity of natural forage lands of near-aul territories of zonal types of pastures, to radically improve the natural-economic zoning of Kazakhstan.

Прикладні проблеми виявлення та ідентифікації золотистої картопляної нематоди

Detection of globoderosis foci, especially in the early stages of land settlement, is difficult, as typical signs of damage (growth retardation, chlorosis, leaf wilting, etc.) appear visually only after many years of cultivation of nightshade crops in monoculture or with minimal breaks. Under such conditions, the highest probability of their detection is provided by the selection of soil samples by the envelope method. At the same time, in comparison with other monitoring schemes, a more uniform coverage of the surveyed area is achieved. When conducting rapid analysis of moist soil, to increase the secretion of cysts, you should use a saturated solution of NaCl salt at the rate of 50 grams per 1 liter of water. Identification of cyst-forming potato nematodes should be carried out according to a set of morphometric parameters, biological features (using varieties-differentiators) and biochemical differences. Given the current high cost of biochemical methods of diagnosis, it is advisable to use them primarily to identify quarantine and new to science species of cyst-forming nematodes.

Conditions and prospects of improvement of non-agricultural land evaluation in Ukraine as constituent of the state land cadastre

The article describes peculiarities of formation of the estimated constituent in the structure of the state land cadastre in Ukraine. The author gives analysis of the current Ukrainian practice of consideration of the intended use of a land plot while making normative monetary evaluation of non-agricultural land plots within and outside settlements. The conducted analysis of the methodology of normative monetary evaluation of the land of settlements and non-agricultural land outside the settlements confirms that in the process of evaluation, each of the methodologies considers the intended use of land plots in a different way, causing different value correlation between the lands of different categories and kinds of intended use. Differentiation of the estimated indices of the methodology of normative monetary evaluation of non-agricultural lands within and outside settlements absolutely disagree with one another. The article supplies conclusions on the necessity to transfer to a consistent approach of such differentiation without reference to the land plot location within or outside the settlements. Basing on the analysis of statistical information on the sale of state- and communally-owned lands, the author defines the coefficients of correlation between the sale price of state- and communally-owned lands in 2017-2018 in Ukraine in terms of the kinds of intended use and the figures of the indices of differentiation of normative monetary evaluation of non-agricultural lands within and outside settlements depending on the intended use of the land plot. The author proposes changes to the approaches to differentiation of the indices of evaluation of the lands of different intended use on the base of market prices. The work also outlines the main problems and possible directions of transition to a large-scale evaluation of lands in Ukraine.

Flash flood risk assessment using geospatial technology in Shewa Robit town, Ethiopia

Flash flood is an extreme flooding event which is quick, short-lived, hazardous phenomena having negative environmental and socio-economic impacts. Flood risk management is essential to reduce the effects of flood on human lives and livelihoods. The main goals of this research were flash flood risk analysis and risk quantification in terms of land use land cover using geo-spatial technology in Shewa Robit town. In the present study, elevation, slope, drainage density, distance from river, NDVI, land use land cover, topographic wetness index and curvature were used as parameters determining flash flood risk. To realize these research objectives, all these data were reclassified in to five classes and different weights for each of them was assigned using analytic hierarchy process. Weighted Sum Overlay (WSO) analyses of ARC GIS software was employed to produce flood vulnerability map. Then, the accuracy of generated flood risk map was validated using historical flood data. According to the result, about 3.08%, 14.62% and 20.66% of Shewa Robit town are at a very high, high and moderate flash flood risk, respectively. In addition to this, flood risk was also quantified in terms of land use land cover. The result indicates that the settlement land use is the most vulnerable with an estimated area of 12.01 ha, 99.57 ha and 174.16 ha in very high, high and moderate risk classes. The outcome of the study will be applicable in flood hazard management and mitigation strategies.

Presenting rurality: The Land Settlement Association in interwar England

This paper explores how past notions of idyllic rural dwelling were mobilised and enacted during the implementation of the UK Land Settlement Association (LSA) scheme established in 1934. The LSA was a UK Government programme set up to resettle unemployed workers from depressed industrial urban areas to the countryside. Between 1934 and 1939, 1100 smallholdings were established within 20 settlements across the country. These smallholdings were run as cooperatives, but many failed when relocated families complained of long hours, low pay and isolation. Recruitment to the scheme ceased at the outbreak of World War II, with the settlements being fully dissolved and privatised in 1983. By drawing on a unique archive housed in the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), analysis centres on how the LSA represented and promoted rural living to settlers and the wider public. The paper illuminates three overlapping but distinct elements to this project: the production of physical space as a setting that has been designed to bring about particular forms of behaviour and community cohesion; notions of labour, independence of spirit and reconnecting with the land; and building the physiques of men through hard work, fresh air and good food, thus improving the national stock. The findings demonstrate the power of the rural idyll in producing particular forms of sociality, belonging and masculinity, with many of the ideas that undergirded the LSA continuing to resonate today.